Japan calls for apology over China violence

Page Tools

Japan's foreign minister yesterday urged China to respond to an
earlier demand for an apology and compensation for damages caused
by a violent anti-Japan protest in Beijing over the weekend.

Leaders in Tokyo have expressed increasing alarm over the
massive protests in China.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday told Beijing that it
was responsible for the safety of Japanese nationals in China and
urged communist leaders to prevent violent protests in the
future.

Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said yesterday he "expected
to receive a response soon" to his demand over the weekend that
that Beijing apologise, compensate Tokyo for damages, and provide
better protection for Japanese citizens and interests in China.

Machimura, however, said he would still visit Beijing next week
for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing despite the
tensions.

"It is important to deepen understanding between the foreign
ministers and engage in activities that would help promote
friendship between Japan and China," Machimura told reporters.

"I would like to use the opportunity as a step to do so."

In New Delhi, visiting Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, said Japan
needed to face up to its World War II history and win the trust of
the people of Asia if it wanted to win a permanent seat on the UN
Security Council.

"Only a country that respects the history, takes responsibility
for the past history and wins over the trust of the people of Asia
and the world at large can take greater responsibilities in the
international community," Wen told reporters in New Delhi.

"I think the whole issue in China-Japan relations is that Japan
needs to face up to history squarely," he said.

Wen added that Japanese aggression in the last century
"inflicted huge and tremendous sufferings and hardship ... in
China, in Asia and the world at large."

Demonstrations against Japan have spread across China after
Tokyo last week approved a history textbook critics say whitewashes
Japan's wartime atrocities and militarism in Asia last century.

Anti-Japanese sentiment runs deeply among Chinese, many of whom
believe Tokyo never properly atoned for its war-time abuses
including the sexual slavery of tens of thousands of Asian
women.

About 1000 people threw rocks and broke windows at the Japanese
Embassy in Beijing on Saturday. Japanese officials allege Chinese
police stood by while the demonstrators stoned the building.

In Shanghai, two Japanese students were beaten at a
restaurant.

Thousands of Chinese also took part in rowdy anti-Japan
demonstrations in the southern Chinese cities of Shenzhen and
Chengdu over the weekend, calling for a boycott of Japanese goods
because of the textbook row.